[BluesDuke]

Glossary of the baseball nicknames alluded to:

Blue Moon: John (Blue Moon) Odom, a pitcher for the 1970s Oakland A's.
Catfish: Hall of Famer Jim (Catfish) Hunter.
Spaceman: Bill Lee, the pitcher/philosophicker/wit of the 1970s Boston Red Sox.
Sugar Bear: Utility infielder-outfielder Larvell Blanks.
The Human Rain Delay: Mike Hargrove, player in the 1970s/1980s, pennant-winning Cleveland Indians manager of the 1990s; now manages the Baltimore Orioles. (He got the nickname for taking time out after every pitch when he batted.)
Charlie Hustle: Pete Rose (though this would be modified, as of 1989, to Charlie Hustler).
Steady Eddie: Future Hall of Fame first baseman Eddie Murray.
The Candy Man: John Candelaria, a lanky pitcher on the "Fam-i-lee" Pittsburgh Pirates.
Puff the Magic Dragon: Graig Nettles, the long-ball hitting, vacuum-cleaning third baseman for the Yankee pennant teams of the late 1970s.
The Wizard of Oz: Who else? San Diego/St. Louis shortstop acrobat Ozzie Smith.
Tom Terrific: Hall of Fame pitcher Tom Seaver. (Also known, in his years with the Mets, as The Franchise.)
Doggie: Tony Perez, perhaps the real soul of the legendary Big Red Machine.
Kitty Kat: Pitcher/commentator Jim Kaat.
Oil Can: Ill-fated Boston Red Sox pitcher Dennis (Oil Can) Boyd.

Now...Enjoy!!! For the winter of our malcontent is about to swallow us. But the good news is, once tonight's World Series game is over, spring training is a mere three months away.

[Husker24]

College football is better then either NFL or baseball.

[BluesDuke]

*Bump for the National Pastime!*

[sonofatpatcher2]

I live near Dallas. We don't have much fun now that the Cowboys are on hard times. BTW, what is baseball?

[RussP]

Baseball highlight are a dud: some guy tees off, a ball flies into the stands, and a guy jogs around the bases. He could just walk around the bases for that matter. That's exciting? How many times can you guys watch the same damn thing over and over again?

BTW, I grew up playing and watching baseball, but then I grew up.

[upchuck]

Hey, if you think the Super Bowl is next weekend, you really DON'T know anything about NFL football, do you?

Baseball needs three things to become interesting:
1. A shot clock; say, no more than 15 seconds between pitches.
2. A defined number of time outs. A small number, like 5 per game.
3. No calling the game on weather. If football can be played in the rain and snow and ice, why not baseball? What a bunch of pussies!

I have to admit, though, this latest World Series was sorta interesting.

From an original (as in: from day one) Dallas Cowboys fan.

[Nate505]

In football the object is for the quarterback, also known as the field general, to be on target with his aerial assault, riddling the defense by hitting his receivers with deadly accuracy in spite of the blitz, even if he has to use shotgun. With short bullet passes and long bombs, he marches his troops into enemy territory, balancing this aerial assault with a sustained ground attack that punches holes in the forward wall of the enemy's defensive line.

In baseball the object is to go home! And to be safe! - I hope I'll be safe at home!

[Sicon]

Baseball, apart from being an elegant, beautiful game, is the AMERICAN past time!

Whenever someone says "I don't like baseball", I always say, "What are you, a communist or something?"

Football is brutish, ugly, violent, impersonal, and often boring. I know lots of people think its the best thing since sliced bread, but I just don't see it.

And while there are exceptions, most baseball players are pretty humble, down-to-earth guys. Many football players are flashy, egotistical braggarts with an inflated sense of self-importance, not to mention a tendency towards violence, drug abuse, etc.

The biggest reason baseball is better than football (or basketball, for that matter), is that you don't have guys doing stupid dances, or grandstanding whenever they make a play (in other words, whenever they simply do their job).

Baseball = class, tranquility, individual responsibility and achievement.

Football = low-brow, thick-skulled, Roman Colisseum circus, designed to satisfy the blood-lust of the ignorant masses.

[iranger]

WAIT...baseball is so much fun they made a girls version of it, softball. Of course, you've got chick basketball too and now there is no checking chick hockey. But there is only one original manly man's sport. Football is 4 quarters testosterone laden fun. As Peggy Noonan so wonderfully proclaimed a couple of weeks ago, Men are BACK!!!

[poet]

Whether it's played at night or dawn
baseball is still a yawn

[Maven]

8. All XX Super Bowls haven't produced as many classic games as either pennant playoff did in 1986.

I will never - and I mean NEVER - forgive Roger Clemens for hitting Wally Joyner during the 1986 playoffs.

On another note, I still remember being 14 years old, and my father took me to my very first (and so far, only) World Series game. It was the first game of the 1974 series - Oakland A's vs. the L.A. Dodgers. We were rooting for Oakland because my father, who grew up in Brighton Beach, never forgave the Dodgers for leaving Brooklyn.

I still vividly remember that they brought out Roy Campanella to throw out the first ball. I remember it because that was the first time I ever saw my father weep.

Maven
I am an Angels fan. I know suffering.

[billbears]

79. Nothing in baseball is as boring as the four hours of ABC's Monday Night Football.

Knowing I'll get flamed for this, however this has to be amended or changed. MNF is so much better with Dennis Miller's wit than having to listen to the idiocy of Michaels and Fouts

[OrioleFan]

More good baseball books appear in a single year than have been written about football

True, but "Fatso" by Art Donovan was a riot.

[MarkL]

29. Every outdoor park ever built primarily for baseball has been pretty. Every stadium built with pro football in mind has been ugly.

NOT TRUE!!!! Arrowhead Stadium, where the KC Chiefs play, is a beautiful stadium!

Mark